Landfill

An Alien Concept?

What would aliens think if they visited Earth to take a look at how humans deal with their refuse? It's a question that a group of youngsters at Kirtlington Primary School have wrestled with for a tongue-in-cheek film entitled The Cherwell Incident. Starring children from Oak Class of 2012, the 15-minute feature pits a pair of aliens from the planet Zong against the inhabitants of a village called Cherwell. Their mission is to educate humans how to deal correctly with their recyclables and protect the planet, but there always lurks the possibility of vaporisation. . . .

But we live in Charlbury which is in West Oxfordshire District NOT Cherwell - so did you spot any differences?!

In WODC we CAN put textiles and shoes in our black recycling boxes. Pair up shoes first and put clean, dry textiles, including clothes, curtains, sheets, towels and blankets in an untied bag.

Check below if you are throwing things out as waste in your light grey bin that COULD be recycled!

Light Grey Bin

West Oxfordshire District Council is reponsible for collecting our residual household waste (i.e. which cannot be recycled) in the light grey bin, it is collected fortnightly alternating with the collection of our garden waste in the dark grey bin. Oxfordshire County Council is responsible for disposal of this residual household waste and since Autumn 2014, everything in the light grey bin is sent to the energy from waste facility at Ardley rather than landfilled.

Duvets and pillows (If these are clean and in good condition your local homeless shelter may be able to reuse them. Alternatively kennels often like blankets/duvets for dogs, and RSPCA charity shops may take them for the same use.)

Glass: Broken window glass (up to 5 panels of unbroken glass can be booked for collection as bulky waste)

Glass: Broken pyrex glass

Glow-sticks

Hair (or home compost)

Horse feed bags

J-cloths

Light bulbs old style (but low-energy lightbulbs go into the WEEE bank at the Spendlove)

Lint from tumble drier (or home compost)

Make up wipes

Nappies (If you use disposable nappies, please try to flush solids down the toilet and tightly wrap the nappies into a bundle before putting them in your rubbish bin. For more information about reusable nappies, and to request a free trial kit visit The Nappy Shed.

Paint (If you have small quantities, open the lid, allow the paint to harden, seal the pot tightly with the lid and put in your light grey rubbish bin or take to a county waste / recycling centre. Alternatively, a number of schemes use leftover paint. Visit www.communityrepaint.org.uk or call 0113 2003959. Alternatively contact the Orinoco Scrapstore, Oxford visit www.oxorinoco.org or call 01865 761113, or bring it along to the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)

Christmas trees (real trees), holly and ivy - collected by WODC next collection date after Twelfth Night, leave at kerbside (cut up trees taller than 5ft) or fit inside green waste bin, you DO NOT NEED to be registered for green waste collection.

Cooking oil or fat (should be allowed to cool - small amounts can be put in your food waste bin, large amounts should be put in a lidded, plastic bottle, such as an old drinks bottle, and either left in, or next to your food waste bin. (Cooking oil left in a glass container will not be collected)

Electric goods and electric cables (anything that is powered by batteries or plugs in to the mains can be recycled in the WEEE bank at the Spendlove or County waste/ recycling centre

Food waste including bones (put into food waste bin or home compost uncooked vegetable waste BUT don't throw out food just because it's past the Best Before Date it could well be usable - find out more about what dates on packaged foods mean)

Garden chemicals - see Hazardous waste

Garden waste (should go in your dark grey garden waste bin or home compost bin or take to County waste/ recycling centre. You can buy a discount compost bin for your garden by calling 0844 5714444 or visit our home composting webpage. * Please note: Due to regulation and control over the disposal of food waste, your garden waste bin cannot be used for organic kitchen waste, including fruit, salad, vegetables, tea bags, coffee grinds, egg shells, bread, or any other food stuffs, even though they might otherwise be suitable for home composting.

Gas bottles - Do not place gas cylinders in your rubbish bin as they may explode when crushed. Take them to County waste/ recycling centre (ask a site operative). Gas bottles can be refilled for further use or returned to the retailer. For Calor Gas bottles call 0800 662663 and they will inform you of your nearest outlet. For other gas cylinders call Flogas for advice on 0845 7626379.

Mobile phones (place in an untied bag in your black recycling box so that the crews can see them. Remember to take your SIM card out and remove any personal data from your phone. Many charities also collect old mobile phones.

Textiles (put clean, dry textiles, including clothes, curtains, sheets, towels and blankets in an untied bag in your black recycling box. Save for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)

Tools (Hand tools are collected by the charity Tools For Self Reliance at Redbridge Waste and Recycling Centre in Oxford. Orinoco Scrapstore also reuse hand tools. Call 01865 761113 or visit www.oxorinoco.org. Save for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)

Toys (Your local charity shop, hospital or health clinic could benefit from your unwanted good quality toys. Please contact them direct to see if they would like your unwanted items. Save for the next Bring & Take in Charlbury.)

Weeds (put in your garden waste bin, but please do not put noxious weeds eg Japanese Knotweed or Ragwort in your garden waste bin. Contact DEFRA if you need more information about noxious weeds.)

OCC Household Waste & Recycling Centres

Oxfordshire County Council provide the Household Waste Recycling Centres where there are also energy from waste and landfill skips. The closest one to Charlbury is Dix Pit at Stanton Harcourt which is about 5 miles south of Witney. OCC have published an A-Z to explain what to put into the various recycling containers and what has to be go into the landfill or energy from waste skips. A general rule seems to be that general waste items larger than a suitcase go into the bulky waste skip for landfill and that smaller items go into the energy from waste skip.

WODC Bulky Waste Collection

Bulky waste such as unwanted furniture, matresses, household appliances can be collected by West Oxfordshire District Council for a fee, but before booking a collection please consider your reuse options. There are lots of places that can give your unwanted items a new home for free! Try the charlbury.info website and also local Freecycle websites.

Chadlington Kitchen Garden grows fruit, vegetables and many varieties of salad on a vegetable plot with a polytunnel, asparagus bed and orchard in Chadlington. The CSA’s members pay a monthly subscription and in return receive a weekly share of the produce from the garden. Also order sourdough artisan bread from The Bread Shed - Deep Baked and collect at the same time.

Garden waste recycling - sign up now! From April 2017 household garden waste collections from West Oxfordshire District Council will cost £30 per bin, per year. To receive this fortnightly service, you will need to sign up. This can be done quickly and easily online with your credit or debit card. Alternatively, call 01993 861025.

Do you have mistletoe in your garden? Complete this simple form online to record your findings . Survey to produce a baseline to assess possible changes in the distribution of mistletoe due to predicted future climate change effects. So far mistletoe has been found on approximately 900 trees in southern Oxfordshire, with approximately 3,300 mistletoe clumps noted.

Welcome to Oxon:EEK, providing Oxfordshire with energy efficiency knowledge. Here you can expect to find useful information about how to reduce your carbon footprint. You may be interested in the money you will save or you may be interested in reducing your own personal climate impact. Either way you will find here information on:

Reducing your energy use and waste at home

How you could generate renewable energy yourself

Tips from local people who know about doing this

Links for further reading

Case studies from local people who have done it recently

Share your experiences

If you live in Oxfordshire and have had any experience in these energy efficiency measures, then your comments can be included on the site. Just fill in this simple form and send it through to oxoneek@lcon.org.uk